From: hallam@zorch.w3.org
Message-Id: <9602231932.AA13434@zorch.w3.org>
To: www-html@w3.org
Subject: Re: Automatic Entry and Forms
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 23 Feb 96 14:22:27 EST."
<199602231922.OAA17040@portia.portia.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 96 14:32:45 -0500
>Nice idea, but that dog won't hunt.
>All it takes is for one person to cry out, "With this feature, people
>can capture your user info and start a dossier on you, even when you
>don't allow them to have it." and all your work and thought just went
>out the door.
I am very well aware of the privacy issues involved. I recently spent
two days at a workshop making precisely those noises to Nielsen, Gallup
and the massed ranks of the advertising industry.
The idea would be to provide personalised _defaults_. I was not
proposing a mechanism whereby the browser would automatically enter the
data and submit the form. The user would still make the decision to
send or not send the data.
>Netscape just decided to redo their cookies for exactly that reason.
I am aware of that situation. There is a general privacy issue but I do not
believe that it is involved in this case. It would make it easier for a user to
reveal demographic data to a site but would not allow a server to obtain that
information without their permission. The privacy issue turns on consent.
Phill